Skills for Law Students

Skills for Law Students is an innovative new online resource which covers all of the skills that law students need to understand and develop during the course of their law degree. It includes clear, practical advice on how to develop your skills as well as over 170 interactive activities to test progress and to help put the theory into practice.

Skills for Law Students is unique in its approach to the teaching of legal skills. It is an online resource with an accompanying textbook. This innovative approach encourages blended learning and supports flexible learning and self-directed study.

Each of the 32 chapters deals with a separate skill. Each chapter contains two key elements: the text providing an overview of what that skill is; why it is important; and how to develop it and interactive activities which enable students to understand the topic better; to put the skills into practice; and to self-study and receive immediate feedback on their progress.

• Covers the full range of study skills and legal skills, ensuring that students develop a wide range of skills and can use the resource throughout their degree programmes
• Contains over 170 interactive activities, enabling students to put the theory behind each skill into practice. The interactive activities will appeal to students who engage with new teaching methods and have a range of different learning styles
• Students are provided with immediate scores and feedback, enabling them to test their progress and to diagnose their strengths and weaknesses
• Contains over 50 video recordings which add more variety and interest to student learning; they also enable students to see good and bad practice of some of the more practical skills (such as presentation skills and mooting).
• Do you ever wish you'd made better notes from a lecture?
• Do you find it difficult to identify the ratio of a case?
• Do you feel confident about which sources to use in your research and what constitutes plagiarism?

Key features:-

• Interactive activities: The site contains over 170 interactive activities which are designed to help students understand the topics better; to put the skills into practice; and to self-study and receive immediate feedback on their progress. There is a wide variety of activity types, including multiple choice; complete a flowchart; identify keywords; and true/false.
• Video recordings: There are over 50 video recordings throughout the site for you to watch. These will not only add more variety and interest to your learning; they will also enable you to see good and bad practice of some of the more practical skills (such as presentation skills and mooting). The video clips also show you current law students and legal practitioners reflecting on the skills they have developed and the skills which are key to their careers.
• Reflective diary: At various points throughout the site you will be encouraged to reflect upon something you have just read or done. You can then click on the reflective diary link (which appears on every page) to log your thoughts. This could then feed into your personal development plan at university.
• Hyperlinked glossary: We have provided definitions for any words or phrases we think you might not be familiar with. Simply hover over the word to see the definition before continuing with your reading.
• Cross references: Whatever you undertake in your studies, you will realise that a combination of different skills are required for most tasks. Some skills are very closely related to others and we highlight links between topics throughout the resource with numerous hyperlinked cross-references. This will enable you to navigate your way around the site and to see how various topics interlink.
• Your scores: Your scores are recorded on the 'my scores' page. This page will be updated every time you complete an activity and you can re-take the activities as many times as you like. Why not use this page to evaluate where your strengths and weaknesses lie and which areas you may want to focus on for development?
• Activating an account: Access to the online site is via a unique access code which is printed in a sealed card inside every book.